Despite CES 2020 reaching its conclusion last week, Samsung didn’t use the show to unveil a new smartphone.
That smartphone is the all new XCover Pro and it’s being billed as a “enterprise-ready” device primed for work in the field or customer-facing settings such as deliveries.
The XCover Pro falls into the rugged smartphone category and boasts IP68 and MIL-STD 810G certification. Most interesting however is Samsung’s decision to allow the 4 050mAh battery to be removable.
Of course, that makes a degree of sense if this handset is intended to be used in the field but it is surprising for a smartphone being released in 2020 to boast a removable battery.
The XCover Pro will integrate with the new walkie-talkie feature added to Microsoft Teams and will house two programmable buttons so users can launch apps more easily.
One of the use cases Samsung sees for the XCover Pro is deliveries. To that end, the handset will feature Samsung POS, the South Korean firm’s mobile point of sale solution.
The solution is reportedly approved by Visa’s Tap to Phone program which – as you can infer from the name – allows customers to tap a card to the XCover Pro (and other handsets with the functionality) to complete a purchase.
The solution is secure and the XCover Pro itself is protected by Samsung Knox.
Technically speaking you are getting a 6.3inch FHD display with wet touch and glove mode. There is a Exynos 9611 2GHz octa-core chipset running things along and 64GB of storage with support for microSD cards up to 512GB.
The XCover Pro will land in the US a bit later this quarter and will cost $499 (~R7 139). There’s no word yet on whether the XCover Pro will arrive in South Africa.
The full specifications of the XCover Pro follow on below.
Samsung XCover Pro Specs | |
Display | 6.3” FHD+, Wet Touch, Glove Mode |
AP | Exynos 9611 (2GHz Octa-core) |
Memory | 4GB + 64GB, microSD up to 512GB |
Camera
|
Single Front Camera: 13MP, FF, F2.0 |
Dual Rear Camera: 25MP, AF, F1.7 + 8MP, FF, F2.2 | |
Battery | 4,050 mAh, user replaceable, Fast Charging (15W) |
OS | Android 10.0 |
SIM | Dual SIM (EUR), Single SIM (NA)5 |
NFC | NFC (EMV L1) |
Augmented Reality | Google AR Core |
Design | Full Screen |
Rugged | IP68, 1.5m drop (MIL-STD 810G certified) |
Sensor | Accelerometer, Proximity, Compass, Gyroscope |
Pogo Pin | Charging only |
Biometric Security | Fingerprint (side) |
mPOS | mPOS Ready |
Hot Key | Two Programmable Keys |
Service LED | Available |